PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT HIGH ON THE AGENDA
Photo: ICRC/Marko Kokic, Port-au-Prince, 24 January 2010
11 March 2010 - Psychosocial support, carried out by Red Cross Red Crescent staff and volunteers has made a huge difference to the lives of thousands of earthquake survivors in Haiti and Chile in past weeks and months. Of the 26 delegates the Spanish Red Cross has deployed in Chile, 10 are psychosocial delegates, whose aim it is to train volunteers in community based psychosocial support and psychological first aid, as well as provide support to targeted groups. Numerous aftershocks have added to emotional distress of the Chileans - the psychosocial focus is therefore on strengthening resilience and coping mechanisms.
In Haiti, the extensive psychosocial work that started nearly two months ago, is ongoing in Petit Goave and Carrefour in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. As before, psychosocial support, carried out by delegates and local volunteers, is an integrated part of ERU field hospitals. As the focus of the humanitarian work has changed, the psychosocial work has moved to the streets and into camps for the homeless. Follow the most recent updates by checking out the links below...

- IFRC: Chile emergency appeal
- IFRC: Chile earthquake news story
- IFRC: Haiti earthquake operation

HAITI: PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT REACHING THOUSANDS
Photo: German Red Cross
5 March 2010 - When nearly two months have passed since an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck Haiti on 12 January, people are slowly turning back to normalcy, although the journey to recovery is long. It is estimated that more than 3 million people were affected. For most of them, life will never be the same. The psychosocial work, done in the two ERU field hospitals, is also gradually moving into camps and the streets of Petit Goave and Carrefour in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Among activities, carried out by psychosocial delegates and Haitian volunteers, are recreational activites for pre-school children, non formal schooling, tracing and restoring family links, creating child friendly spaces, hygiene promotion activities, support to grieving families/patients and awareness sessions on stress. Psychosocial support is also being provided to the volunteers themselves that all have been affected by the disaster. The possibility of broadcasting psychosocial messages, interviews and stories on local radio, in collaboration with Internews, is being looked into. That means that crucial information about issues such as psychological first aid, child protection and gender based violence, could reach a vast number of people in short time.
 
- IFRC: Operations in Haiti
- ICRC: Still meeting quake needs
- Internews

CHILE: THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF THE EARTHQUAKE
Women cry next to a destroyed building in Talca, Chile, February 27, 2010. REUTERS/Victor Caballero.

HAITI: PSYCHOSOCIAL NEEDS REMAIN HIGH
Photo: Haitian Red Cross volunteer Ralph Toussaint with Kengo Jean at Camp Simon, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. American Red Cross/Talia Frankel.
24 February 2010 - The focus of operations in Haiti, one of the biggest operations of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement's ever, has now shifted from emergency operations to recovery and rehabilitation. As of today, nearly 30,000 patients have been seen by Red Cross Red Crescent Emergency Response Units, where psychosocial support has been an integrated part and made an enormous difference, with its local volunteers and delegates. With the onset of the rainy season, new challenges will arise - both for the Haitian population, and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. The IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support is currently carrying out a real time evaluation of psychosocial responses in Haiti and a psychosocial expert is a part of an IFRC Recovery Assessment Team on the ground. Follow the most recent updates on the operation by clicking on the ICRC and IFRC links below.

ICRC: Resilience prevails as people struggle to rebuild.
IASC: Guidance note for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Haiti
IFRC: Complete coverage of Haiti earthquake operation
IFRC: IFRC Videos on Youtube

HAITI: DELEGATE'S DIARY
Photo by Jacob Dall/Danish Red Cross
16 February 2010 - It is now clear that the magnitude 7 earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January, left more than 200,000 dead and up to a million homeless. The emergency operation in Haiti is one of the biggest ever in the history of the Red Cross Red Crescent movement. Psychosocial support is and will be urgently needed in the coming months, as the affected try to come to terms with a new reality. - Ea Akasha is an IFRC psychosocial delegate, working in one of the ERU field hospitals. Every night, Ea writes down her thoughts; what she has seen and experienced, to put her mind at ease. Read paragraphs from Ea's diary by clicking here.

INFORMATION SOURCES ON THE EMERGENCY OPERATION IN HAITI:
IFRC: One month special report on Haiti
ICRC: Haitian solidarity, one month on
IASC: Guidance note for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Haiti
IFRC: Complete coverage of Haiti earthquake operation
IFRC: IFRC Videos on Youtube

DRC: THE LOST CHILDREN OF GOMA - AN ICRC FILM, 8:00
12 February 2010 - In the chaos of conflict, adults and children often get separated and lost. In the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been ravaged by decades of war, hundreds of children are missing or separated. 17 year old Shukuru hasn’t seen his parents for 8 months, but with help from the ICRC tracing team, he's found at least part of his family, and he can't wait to see them. Watch ICRC's brand new film on restoring family links in the DRC, by clicking here.

HAITI: HEALING THE INVISIBLE SCARS OF THE EARTHQUAKE 
3 February 2010 - “Where to start? How do you describe crowds of suffering people; people who have lost family members, breadwinners, homes, livelihoods and all their belongings? How do you come to terms with the thought that within the collapsed building across the road, the bodies of 100 nursing students are buried?” Ea Akasha is a Red Cross Red Crescent psychosocial delegate in Port-au-Prince. Every night, she sits down and records her experiences in an attempt to make sense of what she has seen. Read the story.

IASC: Guidance note for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Haiti
IFRC: Complete coverage of operation
ICRC: No effort must be spared
ICRC: Protecting unaccompanied children
IFRC: IFRC Videos on Youtube

HAITI: GUIDANCE FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
29 January 2010 - Well integrated mental health and psychosocial supports that build on existing capacities and cultural norms reach more people and are more likely to be sustained. The Interagency Standing Committee (IASC) Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Reference Group has produced guidance notes that are particularly relevant for the current response in Haiti. Joe, pictured above, is one of many children now cared for by psychosocial volunteers in the Norwegian field hospital in Port-au-Prince. Read Joe's story.

- IASC: Guidance note for Mental Health and PS in Haiti
- IFRC: Complete coverage of Haiti earthquake operation

HAITI: PSYCHOSOCIAL VOLUNTEERS REACHING HUNDREDS OF SURVIVORS
26 January 2010 - In the past few days, psychosocial volunteers have made an enormous difference to the lives of hundreds of survivors in Haiti. Children that some days ago were so badly traumatized that they could not remember how old they were or where they used to go to school, are slowly starting to recover. Haitian Red Cross volunteer Sheila Gabriel together with Neley Forestal. The injured children suffer from emotional as well as physical trauma. Hopital General, Port-au-Prince. Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross.
READ THE STORY

HAITI: EVERYONE IS AFFECTED
15 January 2009 - Despair and anger reign in the island of Haiti where a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on 12 January. The devastation is large scale and as many as 50,000 are feared dead. Around 3 million, or approximately one third of Haiti’s population is thought to be affected.

The need for psychosocial support is one of the basic needs of the survivors. “People who experience such severe stress may react very forcefully, panic or go into shock. Some may be unable to move or do anything at all. It is important to ensure care for people who are as severely distressed just like we would for people with physical injuries. Therefore psychosocial response is part of responding to the earthquake in Haiti,” explains Lene Christensen, IFRC Psychosocial Centre.

READ MORE

GAZA: ONE YEAR AFTER WAR 
12  January 2010 - Thousands of families in Gaza are still struggling with rebuilding their lives and livelihoods, and at the same time lacking the means to move on. "There has been scarcely any improvement in the situation since the end of the war in Gaza" states Pierre Wettach, the ICRC's head of delegation in Israel and the occupied territories.

A consortium of five Red Cross Red Crescent National Societes is among those running psychosocial projects in Gaza, with the aim of improving the quality of life of the affected, and enhancing psychosocial wellbeing and resilience of both individuals and communities.

MORE ON THE SITUATION IN GAZA:
- ICRC: Operational Update
- ICRC: Gaza, photo collection
- ICRC: Gaza, film
- Failing Gaza, full report

TSUNAMI FIVE YEAR COMMEMORATION
16 December 2009 - The IFRC and Thomson Reuters Foundation have launched a a web-based multimedia documentary, Surviving the Tsunami, linked to the fifth commemoration of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Four short films, Stories of hope, based on personal stories have been produced in a partnership involving both organizations.

The project features an interactive map and a "Learn more" section with links to National Societies' programmes. We invite you to take a look at the Psychosocial Centre's own pages, Tsunami Lessons Learnt by clicking here.

A farmer collects water from a partially dried-up pond on the outskirts of Yingtan, Jiangxi province February 5, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer.

- UN COP15 Conference
- Copenhagen: An historic opportunity

- Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
- IASC: Addressing the Challenges

STRONG FOCUS ON PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY
4 December 2009 - The 17th session of the General Assembly held late November in Nairobi was unprecedented in several ways – it was the first time ever, the meeting was held on African soil, and also the first time psychosocial received quite as much attention.

Read news story

IFRC: PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT IN AN ECONOMIC CRISIS
20 October 2009 - "Psychosocial support programming, including advisory services, is mentioned by many National Societies as a developing need," is stated in an IFRC report, The Economic crisis and its humanitarian impact on Europe, launched 19 October 2009. Testimonies in the report, from Red Cross Red Crescent National Societes all over Europe, tell of a sharp increase in number of people in need, and in particular in groups that normally do not seek support. The combination of an increase in unemployment and a fall in purchasing power seems to have generated psychosocial difficulties in several countries. Some National Societies are developing extended psychosocial responses, originally for victims of disasters, to those affected by the crisis.

- Press release
- Full report

AFGHANISTAN: SORROW BEYOND WORDS
20 October 2009 - "Afghanistan is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen, and some of the most terrible things happen there". These are the words of world renown war photographer James Nachtwey, that in 2009 went on a mission to Afghanistan for the ICRC (International Committe of the Red Cross), to document the hardship of the most vulnerable in this war-torn country. The journey brought Nachtwey to prisons, mental hospitals and a physical rehabilitation centre in Kabul. The result of his work, is accessible here.
 
- Afghanistan: No respite for civilians
- Afghanistan: The human cost of war

ASIA DISASTERS: URGENT NEED FOR PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
5 October 2009 - The Red Cross Red Crescent is currently responding to major emergencies that have affected millions of people across Asia. Typhoon Ketsana has caused destruction and death in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, while earthquakes and a tsunami have claimed the lives of hundreds in Indonesia, Samoa and Tonga.

The survivors of the disasters are at risk of long term psychological distress without urgent help, which is why psychosocial support is high on the agenda in needs assessments and all Red Cross Red Crescent responses. In Samoa, several Federation assessment and coordination teams (FACT) comprise relief, logistics, health, water and sanitation, shelter, restoring family links and psychosocial support expertise. The Indonesian Red Cross has deployed hundreds of staff and volunteers, and at least 2 psychologists, to Padang, that was worst hit by the earthquake that hit on 30 September. In Indonesia, psychosocial counselling is identified as a priority. In Viet Nam, hit by typhoon Ketsana on 29 September, more than 2000 staff and volunteers are engaged in relief operations.
Read more...
- IFRC Emergency Appeal: Sumatra
- IFRC Emergency Appeal: Viet Nam
- IFRC Emergency Appeal: Samoa
- IFRC Operation Update: Samoa
- IFRC Information bulletin: Ketsana
- IFRC Humanitarian diary, Samoa
- BBC Humanitarian diary, Indonesia

THE EFFECTS OF THE TSUNAMI
30 September 2009 - The death toll from a massive South Pacific earthquake and tsunami has now reached 85 and is still rising. Hundreds are injured.
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit the remote Pacific islands of Samoa and American Samoa Tuesday, wiping out entire villages. Thousands fled to higher ground after the offshore quake struck in early morning, followed by giant waves. The Tonga and the Niua islands have also reported death and injuries.

New Zealand Red Cross is currently working with the Samoa Red Cross, assisting those affected by the disaster. Rescue teams, are working their way through the worst hit areas, assessing the full extent of the damage. Destruction is widespread with thousands left homeless.

The Indian Ocean tsunami, 26 December, 2004, which killed 230,000 people across 11 countries, is the worst on record. Psychosocial support was an integrated part in emergency responses and several psychosocial programmes have since helped the survivors to get back upon their feet.

- IFRC: Red Alert for Red Cross

TURKEY: PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT TO FLOOD VICTIMS
21 September 2009 - The Turkish Red Crescent swung into action immediately after the devastating floods that hit north western Turkey earlier this month. A group of psychologists and social workers carried out needs assessments interviews, in order to implement a detailed psychosocial support programme, led by the UPSD (Union of Psychosocial Services in disasters) of which the Turkish Red Crescent is a member. The death toll has now risen to 37, and as many as 35,000 people have been affected.

The main aim is to assist the affected to cope with their loss and the changes the floods have caused in their lives. Schools have been used as shelters, which has also made it easier to reach communities. Individual and group interviews have been carried out and information about coping mechanisms have been disseminated. The UPSD also runs community mobilization activites as well as activities for children. Fourteen psychosocial experts have now given support to more than 1000 people. Services will be provided as long as they are needed.
- IFRC Operation bulletin

TURKEY: A HELPING HAND REACHES FLOOD VICTIMS
11 September 2009 - Heavy rains have led to a flooding disaster in Turkey in which more than 30 lives have been lost. A number of people remains missing. Estimates are that around 35,000 people have been affected. The flooding came following heavy rain on 8-9 September.

Turkish Red Crescent has sent specialized staff and volunteers to the districts of Silivri, Catalca, Basaksehir, Ikitelli, Kucukcekmece and Saray. Psychosocial experts, psychologists and social workers, have given input to needs assessments. The Union of Psychosocial Services in Disasters (UPDS) is supporting the operations of the Turkish Red Crescent, with at least 30 volunteers.

Meteorology services have issued a fresh flood alert, warning that heavy rain is expected in the northwest, west, south and north of the country Friday and Saturday.

- TRCS Full report

A NEVER-ENDING UNCERTAINTY
7 September 2009 - Enforced or involuntary disappearance has been called one of the cruelest form of human rights violation, since it gravely violates a number of basic rights. Families of the victims  face severe psychosocial consequences and are marked for life - For years to come, they have to live with the uncertainty of not knowing the fate of their beloved ones. Women and children often bear the brunt. Due to its status, the ICRC is often the only link for the affected families to their loved ones. Today, it is estimated that secret imprisonment is practiced in around 30 countries.

The International Day of the Disappeared was recently marked worldwide. In Kashmir, thousands of people are estimated to have gone missing during the two-decade old separatist movement. Kin of missing people staged a demonstration in Srinagar to mark the occasion.

- ICRC: Missing persons and IHL
- ICRC: Guiding principles
- ICRC: A major humanitarian concern
- United Nations OHCHR

AMERICAS: PREPARING FOR HURRICANES
2 September 2009 - “The challenge of preparedness is making people aware without making them unduly anxious - putting out the word at the right time, in the right way”, says Diane Ryan, director, in the field of mental health, disaster planning and response, in the American Red Cross in Greater New York. Its Rapid Response Team is on standby throughout the Atlantic hurricane season whcich lasts approximately 5 months and is now at its peak.

Red Cross Societies in the Americas watch potential disasters, are prepared to stand down if the storm dissipates, or to activate all responses, at the right point in time. A great deal of time is spent on watching potential hurricanes that may never make land. The American Red Cross in Greater New York recently spent days on preparing for the storm Danny that eventually got torn apart. Currently the storm Erika is being monitored. 
 
Hurricane Jimena, made landfall on Wednesday 3 September, on Mexico's Baja California peninsula, as a Category 1 hurricane, on a 5 step scale. Some 10,000 families had been evacuated. The Mexican Red Cross has determined that external assistance is not required. It has established a support unit for the emergency operation.

- IFRC bulletin on Jimena

GREECE: TENS OF THOUSANDS HAVE FLED
24 August 2009 -  A state of emergency was declared Saturday in greater Athens in the face of what authorities are calling the most destructive fires in Greece since blazes killed more than 70 people in 2007. Read more.

TAIWAN: VILLAGES WASHED AWAY
17 August 2009 - Typhoon Morakot made landfall in Taiwan on 7 August 2009. The public authority of the island estimates that it has caused 126 deaths, with 61 people still missing and 45 injured to date. Hundreds are still stranded in cut off villages or buried under rubble. The Taiwan Red Cross Organization (TRCO) has mobilized more than 1,500 volunteers since the typhoon hit. The disaster is described as being the worst to hit the island in more than 5 decades. - Morakot also caused 22 fatalities in the Philippines and 8 in China.
Read more:
- IFRC Info Bulletin, 17 August 2009
- Red Cross races to help typhoon survivors

GEORGIA/SOUTH OSSETIA: PEOPLE FORCED TO LIVE WITH LASTING UPHEAVAL
10 August 2009 - The fighting in Georgia, in summer 2008, continues to have a major impact on people of the region. A year after Georgian and Russian forces clashed in Southern Caucasus, most of the tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes have returned. Read an interview with Pascale Meige Wagner, ICRC's head of operations for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, on the current situation. All have in common that they have to rebuild their lives. "The focus has now shifted to "normalizing" daily life", says Pascale Meige Wagner. 

- The long road to recovery, photos by Antonin Kratochvil

Pakistan: Civilians are struggling
20 July, 2009 - Thousands of Pakistani civilians who had fled the fighting in the Malakand Division of the North-West Frontier Province have started returning to their homes. A government-organised operation to take roughly 2 million home began on 13 July. Their safety and ability to live in dignity are paramount, states the ICRC. The security situation remains volatile in some parts of the province. The ICRC continues to help the internally displaced whether they choose to return or not. The majority of the internally displaced, in fact do not know what awaits them, some have even chosen to stay behind in the camps. A number of the internally displaced will be dependent on aid for many months to come.

Read more:
- ICRC: Displaced people returning home
- ICRC: Pakistan maps/ICRC presence

China: "Sharing the sunshine"
19 May 2009 - Stigma and discrimination is a part of daily life for many people infected with HIV. That is also the case for many migrant workers in the Chinese city of Suzhou, who were hesitant to take an HIV test or reluctant to go back to their communities after finding out they were HIV-positive. The benefits of the Suzhou Red Cross project "Sharing the sunshine" are that it can prolong further spread and prolong the life of the infected. It is clear that psychosocial support is and should always be an integral aspect of counseling associated with HIV testing and care.

Read more:
- IFRC Health and Community Care
- IFRC Publications on HIV and AIDS

Sri Lanka: Plight of civilians
15 May 2009 - The plight of civilians, caught in the conflict zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka, keeps growing. The ICRC reports that humanitarian assistance can no longer reach civilians. "Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," says the ICRC's director of operations, Pierre Krähenbühl.
From a different place on the island, from the outskirts of Colombo, we bring you the story of  a Tsunami survivor, Sandamali and her three boys. As of today, more than 218,000 Sri Lankans have received psychosocial support in the last three years, according to the IFRC.  

Read more:
- IFRC activities in Sri Lanka
- IFRC Disaster managem./Tsunami operation
- ICRC in Sri Lanka
- ReliefWeb / Q&A Plight of Civilians

H1N1 flu: What is the Mexican Red Cross doing?
5 May 2009 - 21 countries have now officially reported more than 1000 cases of influenza A (H1N1 infection) – popularly known as the Swine Flu. The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert to level 5 on a 6 level scale where the highest level is a global outbreak. Read our news story on psychosocial needs in Mexico, where the virus originated, and find out how the Mexican Red Cross has reacted, by clicking here.

Read more:
- Mexico: Mass Dissemination
- Mexico: In the Front Line
- Public health in emergencies

Gaza: Psychosocial support still the largest health issue
1 May 2009 - The worst effects and repercussions of the Israeli attack on Gaza, December 2008, are hard to see. Psychological trauma is a main concern, regardless of gender, region, or social group, and psychosocial services are deemed to be a critical need, just like food and water. Once it occurs, what does trauma do to people, families and societies? asks Josi Salem-Pickartz in his article Surviving in Gaza. Download a report or read an article from our collection of stories on coping in Gaza.

Read more:
- Voicing the needs of women and men / UN
- UN Survey highlights trauma / IRIN
- Why did you let me get hurt? / World Vision
- Providing psychological support / IFRC
- Surviving in Gaza / Jo Magazine
- The crisis continues / ICRC